The invention relates to a dental prosthesis, comprising a metal framework and to a method for the production thereof.
Such a dental prosthesis and the method for producing the dental prosthesis are described in issue 3_2005 of the magazine “implants” in the report “intra-oral welding of temporary implant abutments with a pre-fabricated titanium bar.” The dental prosthesis comprises a metal framework, which is made in particular of titanium, or a titanium alloy, and comprises one or more caps and a connecting element in the form of a wire or a bar. The caps and the connecting element are joined by way of electric welding, wherein the connecting regions are located at the outer surfaces of the caps, which in particular face the tongue. The cap includes, or the caps include, a cavity on the inside, and are designed to be open at the end facing away from an implant. After dental implants have been implanted into a jaw, the caps are placed onto abutments of the dental implants, and thereafter the welded joint with the connecting element is created in the oral cavity, or intra-orally. Two electrodes, which are connected to a welding device and which, in particular, form an integral part of pincers, are applied such that the one electrode is seated against the outer surface of the connecting element, and the other electrode is seated against the opposite side of the cap, and they are pressed on with predefined pressing pressure for carrying out the welding operation. As a result of the relatively large distance between the outer surface of the connecting element and the aforementioned opposing outer surface of the cap, the electrodes and/or the aforementioned pincers have an accordingly large size, whereby handling poses difficulties, considering the space constraints in the oral cavity.